Partly because I look so damn smart to have written last Thursday: "All this could pivot on a simple phrase in California election law. It says, '…the recount shall be conducted manually or by means of the voting system used originally, or both.' " That's precisely what yesterday's key ruling by Judge Michael Brenner turned on.

In the "Schroederian view" of things (to steal an excellent Brenner phrase that I'll get years of use out of), Janet Nguyen could have asked the Registrar of Voters Office for: 1) a totally manual recount of all the ballots; 2) a recount that was performed only using the exact methods used on Election Day; 3) both types of recounts simultaneously, but not in combination with each other.

In the view of the Registrar of Voters and of Janet's team of lawyers - call it the "Greerian view" - the "or both" phrase in the state Election Code means the candidate or voter requesting the recount can decide to recount some of the ballots by hand and some of the ballots electronically, as was done here. From a common-sense point of view, Brenner said, this is essentially how the ballots were counted "originally." There was no malfeasance, he said, no attempt to "game the system," by picking and choosing counting methods that would tend to favor one candidate.

I also won yesterday because while Brenner did adopt the Mickadeitian view of what the central issue was, in deciding how to rule on it he opened the door for a wide variety of election challenges in 2008. The Schroederian opinion is that this picking and choosing of recount methods will result in "chaos." And election chaos is good for my business. While Registrar Neal Kelley told me he doubts chaos would reign in future recounts, I can only say: "Are you kidding me?"

Sure, the dual-recount method Janet requested made some sense, but the next time around any political operative worth his spreadsheet software is going to analyze his client's Election Day numbers precinct-by-precinct and decide on a recount-request strategy involving multiple precincts and categories of ballots. For example, a candidate could decide he wanted the absentee ballots in Precinct A counted by hand, the walk-in absentees counted by optical scanner, the electronic votes counted by paper-trail audit, and in Precinct B … You get the picture.

It's all based on the fact that political consultants know that people voting absentee by mail tend to vote one way. That Election Day voters tend to vote another. That people in Vietnamese neighborhoods tend to vote for Vietnamese candidates. In multi-ethnic political districts with dozens of precincts (sound like anyplace you know?) potential for such gaming is infinite. Jimmy Camp might have looked like he was nodding off during the trial or reading a Lee Abbott collection of short stories, but the dude was taking serious mental notes.

I started the day in another courtroom, sitting next to alleged thief and Orange Councilman Denis Bilodeau. While it hurts my rep to be seen with politicians, sometimes it is unavoidable. It was the scheduled trial day for Bilodeau on the charge he swiped a "Dump Denis" sign that had been posted by Carol Rudat's campaign. Trial, however, was postponed to June 4. The most significant event was that he officially brought in Jennifer Keller as his attorney. I'll be the most surprised guy in town if it actually gets to trial.

Elsewhere on the criminal courts front, "Housewives" kid Josh Waring is still in jail in San Diego on auto-theft charges and awaiting an April 12 hearing, according to San Diego County records. Bail has been reduced to $7,500, which means he needs someone to come up with only $750 to get a bond. Maybe, like, Lauri could skip the manicures for a month? … I got ane-mail from, God love them, a group of disabled veterans in Texas trying to get Josh to join the Army and get squared away. "I'm sure our small, unorganized group of disabled veterans will take some heat from those who may not appreciate or agree with what we are trying to do, or even feel threatened by us," Doug Cole wrote. "All I can say is this is nothing more than a labor of love for an isolated, marginalized kid. … Some of us live on nothing more than government disability and our efforts on Josh's behalf are actually costing us money." Cole says he has the Army recruiter in Mission Viejo standing by.

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